Do you want peer recognition for excellence? Do you need evidence to show your effective engagement with volunteers? If so, why not nominate your archive service for the ARA Archive Volunteering Award?
Winners will have a national platform to celebrate their volunteers’ contribution to the service and gain publicity for their archive’s role in supporting individuals and community through volunteering programmes.
Note that the timescale for applications has changed and the deadline date for 2020 will be 30 April 2020. Awards will be announced during Volunteers week 1-7 June.
2019 Award Winner was Bigger, Better, Stronger: Volunteering Re-Booted’, a project initiated by Gloucestershire Archives at Gloucestershire Heritage Hub
The judges said:
“Bigger, Better, Stronger was the clear winner this year in a strong field. We were struck by the evidence of new audience and participatory engagement, as well as the positive impact of pro-active engagement on both the archive service and the volunteers themselves. Overall, we saw something inspiring and transformative in the design, management and implementation of this project by the archive service team that sets a new benchmark for the sector. It is great to see often marginalised groups being treated as a core audience for both the archive service and the Hub more broadly.’
The Archives and Records Association seeks to celebrate the role of volunteers in supporting archive services, and to collect good practice case studies to inform the wider sector. This award is a key strand of the work of ARA’s Volunteering in Archives, Action Plan, bringing to life the recommendations the ARA report Managing Volunteering in Archives. The award is also supported by The National Archives, the Welsh Government’s Museums, Arts, Archives and Libraries Division, and the Scottish Council on Archives.
This award is open to archives across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Awards will be publicised widely throughout and beyond the sector.
A short nomination form is available from the ARA website, here, and organisations may nominate projects, or ongoing volunteer programmes, that ran during 2019/2020.
Nominations will be assessed against three key outcomes:
A) Impact on volunteers
B) Impact on service
C) Wider impact
Completed nomination forms need to be returned to volunteeringaward@archives.org.uk by 30 April 2020
If you have any queries about the award please contact Sally Bevan, Volunteering Awards Administrator, (020 7332 3820) or via volunteeringaward@archives.org.uk